The Disappearance of Harry Potter
by Veriseple
Summary: In one world a voice actress create's a guardian elf with powers of magic beyond anyone's expectation as if Fate itself had a hand. In another world a young boy named Harry Potter disappears from his bed one night without explanation. Follow as the story of the elf who was once human must decide which path his life will take while both of his families try to protect him.
1. How it Began: Yggdrasil

AN: As I am still undecided what I intend to do with my two original HP/Overlord crossovers. (I am strongly considering removing all but the first two chapters of HPatFA for example) To try and get myself out of this rut I decided to attempt York Lane's Potter's Bloodfallen challenge, albeit with some major modifications. As a note I have swapped the challenge's original intended character of Shalltear for another Floor Guardian that I felt was much more fitting for Harry's role in Nazarick.

1\. The first chapter must be an introductory chapter like his. (Accepted)  
2\. Shalltear is the child who lived. (Rejected and twisted) (You will see why eventually.)  
3\. You can make this a wrong child who lived story. (Twsted. While Harry may not be the boy who lived he is the one the prophecy is about.)  
4\. If her parents are alive she does not grow fond of them or like them in any way, they are not family to her. (Rejected)  
5\. Parents can be alive. (Accepted)  
6\. Bad Dumbledore (Rejected with a twist. My Dumbledore is very manipulative, but being manipulative and making harsh choices does not make one an evil person. My Dumbledore is simply a man doing what is necessary in a wartime situation.)  
7\. Have fun. (Accepted! )

I won't say anything more other than that I will probably be mangling a few facts from both lores but I like to think I am going to get most of it right. Criticism and reviews as always are adored. And of course I own neither Harry Potter or Overlord in any way, shape, or form. Anyways without any further ado here it is.

* * *

 **Yggdrasil - Helheim - The Great Tomb of Nazarick - Sixth Floor - Forest Clearing**

In a clearing amidst a rain forest that was alive with the sounds of magic and construction was a most curious sight. A pink slime was at work, its appendages formed of slime just like the rest of its body were moving and waving as it scrolled and controlled menu screens floating in the air before it. As it moved its slime appendages it hummed to itself, its voice, unlike how many would perceive it's body, absolutely divine sounding to listen to. Given that in the real world she was a voice actress the slime that called herself Bukubukuchagama in this world and place was quietly talking to herself.

"Create an NPC to command the Sixth floor's defenses. What to do what what to do." She murmured almost absentmindedly to herself. "Should I make a warrior? No I think someone said that the floor before this was going to have a warrior boss. If that's the case the best thing would be something else. A spell caster would be good but what kind." Stopping for a moment the slime looked around at the jungle forest that was being grown all around her, even taking a moment to look upwards at the sky that a fellow guild-mate was diligently creating. "It is lovely here. It would be a shame not to use this as inspiration. Hmmm... Oh I know. A Druid." Tapping a screen she pulled up the NPC creation menu. When the menu first showed up and she initiated the creation process a human boy no more than six or maybe eight years of age appeared standing before her.

If the slime could have blinked she would have. But this was her first NPC creation. "How impressive. He looks rather lifelike." She said as she looked at the perfectly still human boy with black hair and green eyes. "There's something about that shade of green though." The color to her wasn't the peaceful color of grass and life, but a slightly different shade of green for reasons that she didn't know, sent a shiver of fear through her. Not understanding her own reaction the slime's head wiggled from side to side as the Player shook away her unexplained feeling. Before going any further she adjusted the NPC creation menu shifting the NPC's eye color. But the strangest thing happened. While the right eye changed to whatever color she indicated, the left eye didn't change at all. The player couldn't help but frown but suddenly stopped manipulating the colors when the right eye shifted to the shade of blue like the sky.

Though that green still gave her a faint sense of unease, the pairing of green and blue was so perfect in her mind for what a druid was supposed to be that she just stopped and starred for a few moments before smiling. "Maybe this is meant to be." She muttered to herself before humming she set about the character creation process again. She knew she intended to create a pure caster but she needed to balance levels carefully. She herself was a Heteromorph and powerful for it but she only had one hundred levels to use on this character. Rather than waste levels on a different race she choose to make her NPC an elf. An elf even though it did not have any racial levels to gain, would still have an affinity as a druid and would strengthen the magic it would be capable of wielding.

Setting the race to dark elf she stopped and stared as the black hair became blond and as pointy ears appeared. The NPC was still the same age, probably eight or so years old by human measurements, but by an elf's age it could be sixty or seventy years old and still look the same. There was something precious about the elf boy now standing perfectly still before her. Of course it didn't breath or blink. It was an NPC, not a living creature in the real world but that didn't stop even now, the slime from marveling at how lifelike it appeared.

Bukubukuchagama continued to spend the better part of an hour deciding the NPC's levels. There were so many options to choose from and while she knew she wanted a pure druid caster, even with those criteria eliminating many many options, there were still so many to pick from. Finally though she managed to settle on its classes. With the base structure of the NPC decided it was now time to equip it and set its programed 'backstory' as many of the guild called the programing. For this the slime used her own personal inventory to equip the NPC. Of course there was a base set of gear that an NPC could use if nothing was given to it. But this was to be the Sixth Floor Guardian of Nazarick. Ordinary gear simply would not do. It wasn't until she was sorting through her inventory though that Bukubukuchagama realized that she didn't have any clothes fit for a boy or male at all. In fact because she was a slime and didn't wear armor or clothes of any kind, the only outfit she had in her inventory at all was a looted outfit that had been dropped by a boss three days previously. Sadly it was a girl's outfit. But the stats alone were enough that despite the perversion that normally only her Brother indulged in, she put it on the NPC. After all it wasn't like it was a living being or anything.

Once the NPC though was standing there in its new outfit, the skirt barely coming down to it's mid-thighs and stockings coming almost all the way up to meet it, as well as blue sleeves under a white vest she stopped. Bukubukuchagama prided herself on not being a pervert like her unrepentant brother. In fact she delighted in ruining his perverse pleasure whenever she could. But there was something unexpectely feminine about how the elf boy looked. If she didn't know the gender were still set to male she would have assumed he was a girl after all. Smiling for a moment she decided to not to change the outfit later on. Moving back into her inventory she removed items fit for a druid she'd been waiting to sell. Luckily she had a good inventory of gear. Boots, a necklace, an actual God Tier staff called Shadow of Ydrassil.

The staff was immensely powerful but was restricted to elf druids for use. No other combination of races and classes could wield it. Bukubukuchagama hadn't even been thinking about it when she had created her NPC but now that she had found it sitting in her inventory she felt as if fate and destiny were at work now. It had been whim that she created the NPC this way and yet she had gotten as a drop in a boss raid, this staff not even a month before. Such a powerful staff would bring a massive amount of gold but she hadn't sold it because it would have to be someone outside the guild and could easily have been used against Ainz Ooal Gown's members. Rather than let such a powerful magical weapon into enemy hands she had kept it. Now though it had a place and a purpose.

The slime continued to work through her inventory giving the elf NPC items it would need to fulfill its purpose. When it was done Bukubukuchagama turned her attention back to the NPC creation menu and continued fiddling with the settings. In the NPC's settings she assigned all the important data but still had a bit of room. Eyeing the perfectly still elf child she wondered what he would be like if he were real. In her heart she just knew he would love to read, but would be a quiet timid type of person. The kind of person that would rather be around animals out in nature, or would be tending to plants, than rather be running around playing sports with other children, or being loud and noisy and playing pranks. In a straight forward explanation. This elf was not her brother. Knowing instinctively the elf's personality, if he had one she used the remaining setting space to set the backstory. In the end all that was left now was the NPC's name. Surprisingly this took the longest time but in the end between the blue dragon scale hide of the boy's shirt and right eye, contrasted against the left green eye, and blond hair like a golden sun, she knew. This boy reminded her of a plant amidst water. And so she borrowed from the Itallian language to name him.

Mare Bello Fiore.

A final tap of the button on the menu and there was a shimmer of light for a moment as if a magic spell had been cast. Curiously turning her slime body to look and see if anyone from the guild was playing a trick on her, she looked a few moments later to see the NPC standing there. Her pink slime body wiggled as the Player did a little dance of success at having created an NPC. And a powerful one at that! She knew some of the other Floor Guardians were already done, her foolish idiot brother's vampire was certainly dangerous in a fight but her brother had told her, the vampire's stats and looking at the stat sheet now Bukubukuchagama almost couldn't believe it that the NPC was so powerful. It's stats were a match for any of the members of the guild and she knew she'd struck gold in creating the elf. Still she went still as she studied her creation. She inherently knew that the NPC wasn't real. That it never had been and never knew it would be real. But those mismatched green and blue eyes looked... lonely. Frowning Bukubukuchagama moved away to go find a guild member. She had used up her allotted levels in creating the elf NPC FLoor Guardian. She would need to talk to the others about sharing some levels with her to allow her to make a companion NPC. Somehow she just knew that if this elf boy were real. He would be lonely without his older sibling around.

Bukubukuchagama never noticed a single impossibility occur as she moved away. From that hauntingly green left eye ran a single tear.

* * *

 **Yggdrasil - Helheim - The Great Tomb of Nazarick - Sixth Floor - Mare's Forest Clearing  
** _Three days later._ **  
**

It wasn't until the three days later that the shape of the pink slime made its way back to the forest clearing where it had left the NPC Floor Guardian. Bukubukuchagama had been surprised when she talked to the guild leader Momonga about who hadn't used up their aloted NPC levels and might be willing to part with a few levels she could use to create another NPC. The surprise came because as the Guild Leader he had access to statistics for the guild Dungeon and he had assumed she hadn't made her NPC yet because they were still a hundred levels under budget and all the other intended level one hundred NPC's had been created along with most of the other NPC's. Certainly so many that there was no way for them to be mysteriously under their guild base NPC level limit to that amount. Confusion had abounded until another of the guild members had suggested that perhaps the answer lay with their newest World Item, the Throne of Kings. Sanity and rationality quickly resumed as the idea circulated among arguing and confused members of the guild. After all the idea of a glitch was worrisome. While right now it might be good, having a free level one hundred NPC, the roster of NPC's showed Mare Bello Fiore, but it did not show him as the Sixth Floor Guardian or as a cost drain on the guild's resources. However the idea that his oddity resulted from the Throne of Kings made sense. While the Throne had other effects that had been noticed, most items did not come with instruction manuals, and the idea that a World Item might be the reason eased many worries that 'those shitty Devs' wouldn't do something to fix the 'glitch' that was Bukubukuchagama's creation at the worst possible time like if Nazarick was under attack.

Combined with the fact that Mare apparently wasn't registering as the Sixth Floor Floor Guardian it was decided the pink slime would create a second level one hundred NPC that would be the Floor Guardian and make the Sixth Floor all the deadlier. The next few days had been spent gathering items. Bukubukuchagama knew she had gotten extremely lucky how her inventory had just so happened to have a perfect set of items for Mare. But having just gone through her inventory she knew that she wouldn't have the same luck again, particularly as she'd decided to give Mare a big sister to look after him and keep him out of trouble just the way she did with her pervert featherbrained brother.

Now though she was ready to create a Floor Guardian. But before she would do so she took one moment to edit her first and original creation's settings. Just because he couldn't officially become the Floor Guardian, didn't mean she wouldn't recognize her original intent. She included a few more lines of description for background that stated that he shared the duties of being the Sixth Floor Guardian with his big sister. Smiling she turned and moved a little ways to the side and opening the NPC creation window she got to work on creating the NPC she had been envisioning as Mare's big sister. She noticed that this time rather than having the NPC standing there in front of her on the grass it was just a displayed screen. But after playing with the settings for a little bit she realized that the glitch with Mare's eye color wasn't happening like before and just assumed those Shitty Dev's were just doing their jobs for once. Paying it no more mind she set to work in creating her next NPC. Unlike before Bukubukuchagama already had most of the idea in her head in how she wanted to make her new NPC. She was making Mare a sister, that was already decided. But she wouldn't be the same as him, it wouldn't be right after all and the floor would be more dangerous the more varied and versatile its defenders were.

So rather than a powerful druid she had chosen a Ranger and Beast Master instead. Where Mare was a powerful caster that ranked only a little bit below her fellow guild mate Ulbert Alain Odle who was one of the most deadly magic caster Players in the entire game. The pink slime's head bobbed as she shook her head at the thought of just how powerful Mare really was but just sighed as it was all due to the World Item sitting in the guild's throne room. Getting back to work she continued at it. The same mismatched eyes were the start though she flipped them around so that the green and the blue were opposites from Mare. Working her way through the character creation menu she was much quicker this time as she'd already decided many things and only had to tweak and refine a few things as she worked so that they were optimized as much as possible.

When it was finished a second dark elf child stood perfectly still next to Mare. Anyone who looked at the two would see the resemblance of siblings. And indeed there was a crowd as more than a few members of the guild had come to see the NPC that had caused so much confusion just a few days before. Standing at the center was the guild master himself, her friend Momonga, her brother ever the pervert seemed to be leering at Mare, no doubt not realizing that Mare was really a boy. She suspected even that wouldn't be enough to stop her brother from fantasizing about the elf boy given his depraved nature. Frowning she made a mental note to take him to task the next time they were together in the real world. It wouldn't do to let his perversion run rampant anymore than it already did. That was what big sisters were for after all, to keep their foolish little brothers in line. She smiled a little as her pink head turned and she looked at the pair of NPC's while the gathered guild members chattered and admired the pair of NPC's. Atleast Mare had a big sister to keep him in line if he ever made mistakes or was going to do something stupid. If they were real Bukubukuchagama knew that the both of them would love each other like siblings should and that both would protect each other from anything, but that Aura would go to the very ends of the earth and beyond if needed to make sure that Mare was safe and stayed out of trouble.

Turning the pink slime moved away and joined her chattering guild mates leaving the pair of sibling NPC's where they were.

* * *

 **Yggdrasil - Helheim - The Great Tomb of Nazarick - Sixth Floor - Aura and Mare's Tree Home  
** _Five Years Later - The Final Day of Yggdrasil - Eight hours before the servers shut down._ **  
**

The Pink Slime moved around the inner area of the Tree that had been created to serve as her NPC children's home. Like many of the other guild members she had spent time and effort, as well as resources continuing to tend to her creations. While they all knew that the NPC's didn't require homes, or anything really, they were just data and programing after all. The Guildmembers of Ainz Ooal Gown didn't look at their creations that way. Each of the members of the guild had been involved in the creation of the Unconquerable Guild Dungeon, The Great Tomb of Nazarick. They had stood with pride the day they had defeated the invasion of 1500 enemy players. And while yes it had been the Eighth Floor that had finally stopped the invaders she had watched with pride as the NPC's that she regarded as her children, had laid waste to hundreds of invading players before falling. Sadly Aura the sister she had created for Mare had fallen first. She just wasn't as strong, neither the quirk of strength that Mare benefited from presumably courtesy of the Throne of Kings, nor whatever other hidden benefits it gave the elf boy, had extended to the female elf. And in truth Aura's deadliness came from her many beasts rather than the ranger herself. In single one on one combat the elf ranger was pitifully weak by the standards of a level 100 of any kind. But surrounded by her beasts that Bukubukuchagama and others had carefully selected, she was as strong as two and a half level 100 NPC's because of her abilities to buff and strengthen her beasts.

The slime and the gathered members of the guild had watched that day as Aura had fallen but Mare had continued to fight on. It had been astounding as nearly fifty players had fallen to Mare even after Aura fell. And while there were other factors such as the remaining beasts belonging to Aura, as well as the pair of Platinum Dragons that served Mare. All the guild had been speechless as they had watched what should have been impossible. Many had thought the invasion would falter at the sixth level but eventually they had watched as sheer numbers alone had brought the elf druid down. By comparison the seventh level put up not even a quarter of the fight that the level before it did and it was only on the Eighth level that the last two hundred of the invaders finally met their match when the monsters of the Eighth Floor fell upon their enemies.

Confusion and surprise had reigned again in the following day. Like normal NPC's Aura had required vast sums of gold to resurrect, Mare however had not. When the guild members had returned to play the following morning, those who investigated the Sixth Level as part of the clean up process had found the NPC alive again standing in the exact where he had fallen in the Coliseum on the Sixth Floor. He was perfectly still as always, this was just an NPC. Apart from the resurrection nothing else was amiss. And in the end everyone just assumed that the World Item assumed to be responsible for all the quirks surrounding Mare, was responsible once again.

That had been years ago now for both NPC and Player alike. The cute pink slime was spending her first time in the game in almost two years. She wouldn't have returned at all, life was so busy in her work and with many of the guild members gone the game had lost its allure for her. But she couldn't reject Momonga's message for one final get together. She had spent an hour talking to her fellow player and friend before making her way down to the Sixth Level. She wouldn't stay until the end of the servers. In truth she hadn't even intended to spend the hour she had spent talking to Momonga. It had been her plan to be on for maybe twenty minutes, thirty tops. But nostalgia had reared its head and she'd spent the hour remembering the old days of years before with the undead guild leader who had continued to play on and had acted like a caretaker to the mausoleum to the past that Nazarick had seemed to become.

Even though she'd spent more time than she'd planned or even wanted to, she wasn't just going to leave though. She wanted to see her creations once last time. Particularly Mare. She loved both, and thought of them as her children. But though she would never admit it to anyone, Mare had always held a special place in her heart. He had been her first creation, and in many ways her first child. Like any mother she had created him, her actions had given birth to him and as much life as the game would allow had been the results of her actions and choices. He was her child as she was his mother. Standing in one of the rooms of the tree home the pair 'lived' in she looked around smiling to herself. A kitchen for NPC's that did not eat. Beds for those that did not sleep. Even though an NPC would never read she had filled Mare's room with shelves of books just as she had filled Aura's room with all the items and trinkets that she would keep in her room if she were real. In some ways some might say that she had poured her heart and soul into the pair. And it was with many emotions, chief among them being pride, and sadness, that she looked over her creations one final time. She lingered, even going so far as to move her pink slime body to each of her creation and pressing her 'head' to the forehead of each as she gave them a kiss goodbye before she departed for her final time.

* * *

AN: My next chapter will deal with the HP world and the aftermath of his disappearance up through his return. I hope you all enjoy this and I look forward to reading your reviews. Until next time.


	2. How it Began: The Magical World

AN: Thank you to everyone who has read and responded with comments or messages. I love the ideas I create and put to paper but I won't lie. I get a tickle to the ego and a swell of pride with every review that I read. I still want your input because there will always be things I overlook or miss, but many eyes can catch what my own pair of eyes miss. This one is considerably longer compared to the Nazarick side of things that the previous chapter presented. Don't worry you will all get a look at the other side of the looking glass with the next chapter that will feature not only Mare's disappearance from the perspective of the residents of Nazarick, but also dealing with his arrival in Hogwarts.

Currently I'm pushing a fast posting pace because these ideas are fresh in my head and I don't want to loose my momentum. In time my pace will slow but for now my early chapters are pretty well mapped out and I'm going to churn them out quickly and get them out of the way before I settle in to a more sedate pace of posting.

* * *

 **The Wizarding World - England - Godric's Hollow - Potter Cottage**  
 _October 31st, 1981_

Godric's Hollow located in England was a small wizarding enclave. Like many wizarding communities scattered across the world, Notice-Me-Not spells and Muggle repelling wards kept muggles from noticing what they should not. It allowed wizards to live with a degree of separation from the Muggle world while not being forced to seek out far away inhospitable wastes where no Muggle would ordinarily go. Godric's Hollow carried it's name because hidden from Muggle eyes was an ancient stone fortress manor that had once been the home of the famous Godric Gryffindor long ago. None lived there though for like the other scattered homes belonging to the four founders of Hogwarts, the home had remained locked tight by unknown magics supposedly ever since the famous wizard's death. Still even though none lived there or could enter, wizarding families lived nearby, one such family being the Potters.

The Potters were of course an old wizarding bloodline that dated back centuries, the current residents of Potter Cottage however was not Fleamont and Euphemia Potter who were the current heads of the Potter family. Nor was it Fleamont's younger er brother Charlus and his wife Dorea Potter nee Black. Instead the residents of the family residence that dated all the way back to when the family line was officially recognized as started by magical society, by Linfred of Stitchcombe. A seven hundred year old bloodline the Potters had generally stuck to the quiet places of the Wizarding world though now and then some of its members made their entry into the analls of history.

The current residents of the cottage were well on their way to their own place in history. James Potter, a professional duelist had spent the years since his graduation from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, taking the fight to the Death Eater menace alongside his friend and fellow professional duelist, Sirius Black. Sirius of course lived separately regardless of the fact that the two considered each other brothers. Black a known womanizer and the man voted most likely in his graduating class, to be a lifelong bachelor. The other adult resident of the cottage was James's wife, Lily Potter nee Evans. Unlike her husband the young Mrs. Potter was not from a centuries old bloodline of magic, but was instead a newblood, what English witch and wizards referred to as Muggleborn, or in crueler circles, a Mudblood. But she did not let tradition, or bigotry decide her fate and course. She excelled at everything she did, surpassing all the others in her class year to be the finest student to graduate from Hogwarts's past century. The only exception since the start of the 20th century to score better than her, a halfblood by the name of Tom Riddle.

But school had passed and husband and wife fought against the Death Eaters and their Dark Lord master. James and Sirius along with other school days friends traded spells while Lily and others researched magic in new and arcane ways, searching for new magic, or unlocking secrets forgotten in the past. By day their lives were fraught with danger, so it only made sense that they had taken to hiding their home beneath a powerful spell capable of hiding a secret within a person's very soul, the Fidelius charm. At first James's friend Sirius had been the secret keeper. But a person could only hold one secret at a time. And when at last it seemed that the irredeemable bachelor was going to settle down and in order to keep his girlfriend and new fiance Amelia Bones, safe, for she too fought against the Death Eaters though she did so from the form of law and order as a member of the English Magical Ministry's Auror Corps. After talking with Lily and James, Sirius passed the secret to another of their friends so that he could be the secret keeper for her home in an effort to protect her.

The secret became held by one Peter Pettigrew, a friend of James's he had known since his first year in school and whom he had shared a dorm room with for seven years as well as many years of friendship. But though the attempt to preserve the safety for their home where they slept was noble and wise. Their trust was proven in vain when on Halloween night Peter led his lord and master. The Dark Lord Voldemort to Godric's Hollow. The Dark Lord had demanded the lives of any children at the end of July that met certain criteria. The twin boys of James and Lily, Charles and Harry Potter, were one such set of boys. Still for all the Dark Lord's fearsome power after Pettigrew had given him the secret of the Potter's home, he had waited until Halloween, when James and Lily were set to be in Germany along with Sirius, for a Dueling Tournament in Berlin. While all three of them worked ever day to take down the Death Eaters and their leader, the near death experiences that were near constant plus the stress of raising two young boys was at times intolerable. Which was why the three adults had taken a weekend off and headed for the continent where their minds could focus on the simple competitiveness of a dueling competition rather than the stress inducing events of the rest of their lives. The young boys barely more than a year old had been left in the care of a Squib by the name of Mrs. Figg, who though unable to use magic, was able to take care of the twin brothers for the two nights that their parents would be absent.

Given the secret of Godric's Hollow Voldemort tore through the other defensive wards surrounding the cottage as if they were paper. He did not hesitate, though James, Lily, and Sirius were all on the Continent, others would arrive quickly when the wards were attacked and no doubt with them would come Voldemort's former school teacher and greatest foe, Albus Dumbledore. This was not the time for sentimentality, in fact there was almost no time at all. He had perhaps thirty seconds after the final ward fell before the first responders would arrive and more would follow quickly as would the Aurors of the ministry. Relying on Pettigrew's description of the layout of the house, he made his way up the stairs and into the nursery where a woman, the squib, shrieked and dropped the child she had been holding. It was completely by accident the fall, but luckily for the boy in her arms, he fell into the crib of the other child. Voldemort felt nothing as he quickly cast the killing curse at the squib. His words as fast as the speed with which her lifeless corpse dropped to the floor. Quick steps carried him to the crib where he aimed his yew wand at the pair of boys. Ten seconds, no time to spare, but he did not cast other curses that were likely to be quicker at killing both, instead he cast the killing curse again. And just as quickly as the words left his lips the curse shot at the pair of infants and was reflected back at him, his body, unable to truly die, was instead destroyed in an explosion that frightened and scared away the traitor down below who had allowed him into the house.

Seconds later the first pop of apparition sounded as the first responders, in this case, one Alastor Moody, a British Auror but also a member of the group they were part of that fought against Voldemort, was the first to arrive. The scared and disfigured lawman's wand was instantly out already and the very first spell he cast was a powerful shield against any potential spells that would hit him. None came but the paranoid man was well known for his behavior and it was behavior well earned as his paranoia and preparedness had kept him alive where others had died during the war. Another spell from his wand detected all signs of life nearby and the man could detect only two lives. Moving cautiously but quickly, his eyes, one real, and one that was magical and could look in any direction, quickly proceeded forward into the house. As he crossed over the threshold other pops of arriving witches and wizards sounded behind him. The man's eye swiveled backwards looking behind him to make sure it wasn't an ambush even though he knew it would be other Aurors responding to the magical traces cast by the Unforgivables so close to muggle residences.

Climbing the stairs to the second floor he made his way into the nursery where his eyes found the dead caretaker, a black robe and yew wand, and a pair of infants screaming in agony as their heads were covered in blood. Muttering a curse under his breath the Auror pointed his wand at the boys and began casting a spell.

* * *

 **The Wizarding World - England - An Unplotable Location - Potter Manor** _  
July 31st, 1985 - Four Years Later  
_

Potter Manor was a stately manor home three stories tall that had stood for the last five hundred years and been home to generations of Potters. The latest inhabitants, James and Lily and their twin boys were merely the latest to walk and live within its walls. Over the centuries the ancient building had known its share of happiness and joy, as well as sadness and despair. It was no doubt close to setting the record for sheer chaos and clamor though as it was currently hosting the double birthday party for the newly five year old brothers, Charles and Harry Potter who were known throughout the Wizarding World as the Boys-Who-Lived. Over three years before through means unknown they had been the first ever to survive the Killing Curse, delivered by the wand of the Dark Lord Voldemort no less. What happened that night to that day remained a mystery even to those closest to the Potters and the Potters themselves.

James and Lily had of course been distraught when in the middle of the night they had felt the alarms of magic as the wards on their home and fallen. But stuck in Germany it was more than an hour before they had managed to get a portkey that would take them back to London from where they could apparate to their home. At their side Sirius Black was little better as they fretted and panicked from the lack of information. They had arrived back to find their home in ruins with a giant hole like from an explosion had gone off in the nursery. Their twin boys had been discovered together in Charles's crib and both had marks, not from any spells but instead from the damage of the explosion. Charles had recieved from falling timber a jagged scar like a lightning bolt on his forehead. Harry had lost his left eye entirely from a large splinter that punctured his eye. Though Alastor 'Mad Eye' Moody had arrived within a minutes time Harry's eye had been incapable of being saved. Luckily magic was a powerful thing and though his original eye could not be restored, his parents had paid for the Wizarding Hospital in London to give him a new eye created with magic.

Years later the boys lived as if they had never been harmed by the Dark Lord at all. True the lightning bolt shaped scar on Charles's forehead had for a time become a symbol of defiance against the Dark Lord after his passing. It wasn't until a profit hungry author by the name of Gilderoy Lockhart had written a pair of fictional children's books about the Boys-Who-Lived that the Potters took action. The Potter family lawyer, a muggleborn name Ted Tonks that was married to one of Sirius's cousins had sued the money hungry writer and the lawsuit had quickly shut down the stories with most of the books recalled. A few still existed in circulation and across the wizarding world a few young magical children were read to sleep at night from the fantasy stories about the pair of brothers that ha defeated the Dark Lord.

That was not the image or life James or Lily had wanted for their boys. They did not care for the money or the fame, they simply wanted to raise their boys in peace and quiet. A pair of ideas that were totally absent on the day of the birthday party. Like all birthday parties, children of all ages were running around on the back lawn of Potter Manor. Not all were as young as the five year old boys either as some like Ted Tonks's daughter Nymphadora was already in her second year at Hogwarts, and several Weasley children as well were older than the twin birthday boys. Even Cedric Diggory, a friend of the Weasleys and thus a playmate of Charles and Harry was out there running around while his father and mother were making small talk with Horace Slughorn off to the side in the shade near the punch bowl. Close to fifty children with even more adults were present and many were out on the lawn raising a fuss as they played. Parents were gathered together in groups while they stayed close enough at hand to keep an eye on their troublesome children that were running around endlessly on the sugar from the large birthday cakes that each birthday boy had received.

However there was one small grouping of adults near the manor that were all gathered around a small five year old boy with black hair and green eyes that was sitting on a chair refusing to look at the child sized training broom laying on the table next to him.

Lily Potter crouched down to be at eye level with her son Harry smiled sweetly as she stroked the side of his face. "It's going to be all right. You took a bad fall but Sirius got you a new and even safer broom for your birthday see. As long as you are careful you won't fall again." The distraught godfather in question stood nearby nervously chewing his thumb as he watched mother and father talk to their son. His eyes flicking to his brother in all but blood, James who smiled at his son and was reassuringly held the boy's hand. "You know you're not going to be able to play quidditch when you grow up if you don't fly. Everyone has a fall or two, and some get worse if they get hit by a bludger during a game they can get hurt even worse. It's okay that you fell. It's okay that your broom got broken. Your very nice godfather was more than happy to buy you a new one for your birthday. If you break it deliberately he won't buy you another one but an accident is just an accident." Mother, Father, and Godfather all watched as the timid boy violently shook his head in denial. "Don't wanna. Not going to fly again. Ever." Sirius whimpered in defeat and walked away from the group while mother and father continue to talk to their son, his gaze drifting to where his other godson, Charles was racing some of his friends, including Sirius's own wife's niece Susan Bones among others including a thick pack of red hair that could only be some of the Weasley boys.

He moved over to where dressed in purple robes with golden snitches and a long silver bearded coming down to his waist Albus Dumbledore was watching over the top o his half moon glasses at the group. With a curious and concerned tone he questioned Sirius. "Is Harry still refusing to fly at all?" He asked the emotionally beaten godfather who had been emotionally stomped all over when one of his godsons had refused to even look at his birthday gift from the moment he opened it. At Dumbledore's verbal prompting Sirius himself just nodded. "He refuses to touch it or look at it at all." At this Dumbledore just nodded in understanding. "Well even though you managed to get a cushioning charm under him in time just because Harry's body wasn't hurt doesn't mean his mind is the same. I'm sure that for a five, correction four year old boy, the act of falling almost two hundred feet out of the sky was very scary to experience." Giving a grandfatherly smile he patted Sirius on the shoulder while his eyes lingered on Harry who had picked up one of the numerous books he had received for his birthday, one that made Dumbledore smile just a little wider as he recognized it as the book on Dragons that he himself had given as a birthday gift to the young Harry. "I think it is best just to accept that for now young Harry simply does not wish to fly. Pushing the matter may only worsen and given time his emotional trauma may fade." Sirius had doubt in his gaze but as he looked to Dumbledore he nodded. The headmaster just gave the young godfather a twinkle eyed look. "Besides as much as Minerva may refuse to accept the truth, I do not believe young Harry is bound for Gryffindor House like the rest of his family and ancestors. Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff I think. And I rather suspect that if he does fly for his house team. It will be a number of years before the trophy sits in Minerva's office again."

By the end the headmaster's words had taken on a confiding tone as if letting Sirius in on a secret, which he sort of was. Sirius did manage to crack half a smile and while he too hoped Harry would be sorted into Gryffindor, he felt the Headmaster was probably right, on both accounts. While Harry wasn't necessarily a coward, the current issue with the broom and flying didn't count given the fact that he'd nearly fallen to his death not even two weeks previous during a flying mishap. Harry was far more fond of reading than he ever had been of flying even if he was better that his far more aerially enthusiastic but less talented brother Charles. Taking a moment to glance towards the Potter Quidditch pitch he spotted an amateur game of low flying Quiditch was going on among the children right now with Charles right in the thick of it. No professional bludgers of course, just soft balls enchanted to behave the same way moving at a fraction of the speed instead.

Dumbledore's gaze shifted to Lily and James and he gave them a reassuring nod as the two moved back to join the other adults and keep an eye on Charles Potter's antics while Harry happily read, the young boy's legs idly kicking, a sign to any that knew him, that he was enjoying every word and page of his new book. Smiling a little wider knowing that though the fall from his training broom not even a month before had left its mark on young Harry, it would not have too negative an effect on the young and impressionable boy. Looking back to Sirius he just gave his former student a smile. "Give Harry time. That's what he needs. And support him no matter what. If he chooses to fly again or not is his choice. And while I do believe that England's chances of winning the World Cup will be far better with Harry on a broom. If he chooses to never fly again it will not be the end of the world, and we should not think any less of him." Rising to his feet the professor clapped an old but still strong hand to Sirius's shoulder. "Now if you will excuse me I believe I saw the most delightful lemon cake just set out at the table and I find myself desiring to try it. Cheerio."

Sirius now left by his old headmaster sat alone as he continued to watch his younger godson who was still absorbed in his Dragon book. For a moment Harry pulled himself away from his reading, perhaps thinking he had heard something. Looking around for a moment he noticed his godfather watching him and so Harry did the natural thing a proud newly five year old boy would do, he waved. Smiling Sirius stood up and walked over to join Harry. While walking over he could see a look of relief on James's face when the father of the young boy noticed his younger son was pulling himself out of his slump even if a broom had nothing to do with the reason. Making it across the way to Harry, Sirius pulled up a chair next to the young five year old. "Enjoying your party Harry?" Sirius asked with a smile. Harry of course like all young boys on a happy occasion just grinned and nodded rapidly. "Of course! It's amazing. And Professor Dumbledore even came! You've always told about some of your pranks after you were caught and got called to his office and made him sound scary, but he's not scary at all."

This of course just made the proud, if a little embarrassed godfather laugh. He winced slightly as he mentally scolded himself. He was Harry and Charles's godfather, he was supposed to be setting a model example for the two boys, not leading him to a road of mischief and trouble. Well not too much mischief and trouble. Lily would have his hide and might skin Padfoot for a rug if she found out he was responsible for corrupting either of her beloved sons. James would too for that matter, though Sirius knew after the verbal lashing they would share a laugh and a toast to the next generation of Marauders. Giving a soft shake of the head he noticed Harry silently looking up at himself and barely managed to restrain the urge to curse in front of the all too young and corruptible youth in front of him. He'd been caught lost in his thoughts very clearly. "Professor Dumbledore can be very nice and very scary all at once. Hopefully you only will ever half to see the first of those two. Now I want you to tell me all about your new book. What's your favorite dragon breed so far?" Harry's face lit up and with delight to talk about his treasured new gift he started talking while the party continued on.

 **The Wizarding World - England - An Unplotable Location - Potter Manor** _  
October 31st, 1988 - Halloween_

Lily Potter leaned down to kiss her sleeping son Charles's head even as her hand idly with the care of a mother, tucked a blanket over his arm where it was hanging over the edge of his bed. Bending back up she glanced around taking in her son's room, its walls decorated with Quidditch memorabilia of all kinds as well as a pair of posters from the Paris dueling championships two years previously where James and Sirius had made it onto the advertising materials that had been put up to advertise the tournament and two of the more famous and accomplished of the many participants. Much like Wizarding photographs the figures in each poster moved showing both James and Sirius both in the middle of a duel with an unseen opponent. Her gaze slid to the perfectly maintained Comet 260 sitting in the corner that had been Charles's seventh birthday present and finally to the empty perch where Charles's absent owl sometimes perched. No doubt Godric was out hunting given the time of night. Turning back she noticed her husband standing in the doorway, lightly leaning on the doorframe, a smile on his face, though he raised a finger to his lips indicating silence and Lily just smiled as she walked out of her son's bedroom.

As she exited the room James took a step back to allow her out of the doorway and she softly and gently, so as not to wake her sleeping son, closed the door behind her. Eyeing James suspiciously for a moment she arched an eyebrow. "What?" She questioned in mock playfulness. James just smiled pulling her in for a soft and fairly chaste kiss on the lips. "I love it when you're all maternal with our boys. When they're both thirty you'll still want to do this and I bet the answer will still be the same when they are fifty." Lily refused to back down just smiling proudly. "Well of course. They are my son's. I'm there mother and I'm damn well allowed to think of them as my little boys when they're old and wrinkled. Now come on. I just need to say good night to Harry and then we can head off to Alice and Frank's party."

James nodded and fell into step behind his wife as they walked down the hallway to the next doorway which was Harry's room. Quietly opening the door to darkness inside Lily giggled a little, her hand rising to her mouth to muffle the sound. "The sugar crash must have been worse than we thought clearly. Harry's never in bed this early. Usually I can catch him still awake reading his newest book at least two or three times before he actually goes to bed." With a grin and knowing nod James leaned on the hallway wall while Lily crept into the darkness of the room towards their younger son's bed to kiss him goodnight. Idly humming tune that he didn't know the name of but he'd heard on the wizarding wireless a few days before James was completely caught off guard five seconds about ten seconds after his wife had entered when she suddenly screamed in terror. Instinct left over from the war had his wand in hand even as he rushed forward shoving the door open and brandishing his wand looking for whatever intruder or terror had caused his wife to scream. By the time he was fully inside his wand tip was glowing with intense red light but looking around all the windows were closed and there was no sign of an intruder. Trying to figure out what was wrong he looked to see his wife hyperventilating her eyes wide with terror staring at an empty bed. It looked like she'd ripped the sheets off but Harry was nowhere to be seen.

Seeing no visible threat he lowered his wand moving to embrace his wife with one arm, still keeping his wand ready in his hand even as he lowered it. "Lily what is it? Where's Harry?" His wife made no response just continuing to whimper and cry her hands futilely reaching for the be only to stop halfway. James starting to feel his wife's terror infecting himself spoke a little louder. "Lily what is it?" Still there was no response even as her legs seemed to be giving out. The only thing now holding her up was James and her sobbing was growing louder and louder as her tears intensified. With no response forthcoming James did the only thing he could and pointed his wand at his wife and cast the stunning charm at her. Whatever had happened had effect her emotions too much. Best to stun her and get help. His wife was now unconscious but he didn't let her fall instead gently laying her on Harry's bed before standing straight once more. He looked around. Apart from the mess of the be everything was as it should be. Bookshelves packed past the point of full to cramming with books of all kind covered every wall while small miniature animated models of dragons hung from the ceiling, a gift from Charlie Weasley for Harry's birthday just that summer, the two shared a mutual passion and could speak for hours about the scaly beasts. Harry's Comet 260 was gathering dust in the corner just like always, and his current herbology project, a plant that James couldn't remember the name of in his current state but knew he'd studied in school, was near a window where it could get the most sunlight. All in all nothing was out of order apart from his missing son. But the wards hadn't reported Harry leaving the grounds or anyone entering in hours and the family had just gotten back from trick-or-treating in Hogsmeade half an hour ago.

Out of his depth and needing to find his missing son and help his distressed but currently stunned wife James did the only thing he could do and pointed his wand out. "Expecto Patronum." Prongs burst forth from his wand, a little less solid than his usual appearance due to James's worry. "Padfoot come as quick as you can. I can't find Harry and something scared Lily so bad I had to stun her."

 **The Wizarding World - England - An Unplotable Location - Potter Manor** _  
November 1st, 1988 - 5am  
_

James sat on the couch in his home's living room a haunted expression firmly fixed to his face. He had a glass of firewhisky in his hands that was his second of the night but it had done nothing. Sirius sat next to him an equally horrified expression on his face even as his boyhood friend was doing his best to put his own emotional distress to the side for now to be there for James. But all the emotional support in the world wasn't doing any better than the half-dozen aurors had three hours before when the DMLE had been called in to help by Dumbledore no less. All the help in the world didn't do anything for the man who's son had vanished from his very bed while his mother had been kissing him goodnight.

No one had answers. Not James, not Sirius, not an ashen faced Dumbledore, or a grim Alastor Moody. Amelia Black, formerly Amelia Bones herself was standing off to the side watching her husband and his best friend sit on the crouch even as she held a quiet conversation with her subordinates as more and more people were called in. But more people hadn't been able to find out how Harry had vanished. Even Dumbledore hadn't been able to provide any answers after they had awoken Lily and had her give Albus a copy of her memory of Harry's disappearance for investigation. She was heavily potioned for her own health's sake as her hysteria had only gotten worse. Albus had vanished back to Hogwarts with the memory to review it in his pensieve but had returned with a defeated look. With Sirius holding down the fort at Potter Manor an hour later James had flooed to Hogwarts with Albus to see the memory for himself. But nothing prepared him for it.

Even now he could remember what he had seen and the thought caused him to raise his glass of potent drink and down its remainder in the futile hopes that the fire whisky would knock him out and when he woke up all this would be a bad dream and his only trouble would be simply a pounding hangover. But he knew it wouldn't be. Because what he had seen in that memory had proved something powerful was at work, something none of them had any idea of what it was or any clue where to begin investigating.

The memory had started innocently enough Lily had walked into the room while the memory version of James had remained outside. Walking over to the bed after stumbling over a book that had been accidentally on the floor. James had known that it had probably fallen. Harry would never have knowingly and willingly left his books on the floor, he loved them far too much. His son, who looked so much like his twin brother but also like a young James himself was asleep on the bed, a book still cradled to him by his arm. James had smiled at first, the sight was so like Harry. James could probably count on one hand in all the nights over the years that he'd ventured into Harry's room to check on him in the night, that he hadn't found a book with him that he'd fallen asleep reading. Just like James would have done, Lily slid the book out of Harry's arm and set it on the nightstand next to the bed. Brushing her son's untamable hair to the side to bare his forehead Lily leaned forward to kiss her son goodnight.

Then the tragedy, confusion and horror all happened. Right as her lips touched the skin of her son's head, Harry simply vanished. There was no pop of apparition or even any sign of magic. Dumbledore said he'd done some tests that had registered the residue of some powerful magic in the room, but the trace was rapidly fading even despite its intensity and in the brief time that the magical footprint had remained, Dumbledore had not recognized it, a knowledge that filled James with a cold horror. But that knowledge had come later. Now though a horrified Lily was dumbfounded in confusion for a moment before the smartest witch of her age processed what happened with frightening speed. This hadn't been accidental magic, Harry had been safe and asleep, it wasn't something he had done. Neither had it been a portkey or appararition. It hadn't even been a vanishing spell or even any recognizable spell of any kind. Half of the options weren't even possible because Potter Manor boasted powerful old wards that stopped any apparition or portkey not approved by the head of the house, aka, James himself. All this flashed through Lily's mind and when her mind reached the inevitable conclusion, she screamed in terror and horror.

James had watched as he himself had burst in wand at the ready, and in that moment knowing what he'd known then and knowing what he knew when he'd seen the memory he'd pitied himself for still thinking that the world was alright when it was not at all alright. His younger son had vanished into thin air and now his wife and other son required potions just to sleep lest their panic and fear harm their health. From there the memory hadn't lasted long as it had cut off the moment James had stunned his wife. Sirius had come within minutes and after searching the house for a few minutes and finding no sign of Harry, even waking Charles to check and see if his brother was hiding in his room. They hadn't shared a bed in years but one never knew when an old habit from childhood would rear its head. Then they'd summoned Dumbledore and from there everything had spiraled as even the DMLE was called in.

And now as far in the east the first rays of sun would soon be coming over the horizon, James sat on his couch holding a glass that Sirius had just refilled so his friend could drink himself into a stupor and wondered what was going on, why it was happening to his family, and most importantly of all. Where was his son?

 **The Wizarding World - England - Riddle Manor** _  
May 15th, 1994_

Barty Crouch Jr. was meticulously reading the morning Daily Prophet even as he could hear from another room of the manor the sound of his fellow Death Eater, whimpering as he milked their Lord's familiar for her venom. Peter Pettigrew, Azkaban escapee was presently milking the venom from the fangs of Nagini, their Lord's serpentine familiar. The venom was a critical ingredient in a potion their master was required to drink daily to maintain his current homonculus form. Pettigrew at their Lord's direction spent his days since he had crawled his way back to their Lord's service, tending to the health of their Lord in his fragile form. With Pettigrew fully occupied with his duties it fell to Barty himself to carry out their Lord's directives beyond the walls of the muggle manor they were squatting in. Their Lord had important plans for this coming year. Three years previously he had used the possessed body of a teacher to invade Hogwarts in pursuit of the Sorceror's Stone. But rumor of the stone had been just that, rumor. He had nearly been caught by Dumbledore before being forced to flee, even going so far as to leave behind his possessed host. The only upside had been what had no doubt intended to be a private confrontation had been interrupted by Charles Potter who had somehow found out about the stone and like Lord Voldemort had sought it out, although the Potter boy had apparently been intending to protect it instead.

Leaving behind one of the children-who-lived, Dumbledore, and a fake stone Lord Voldemort had fled. It was now Barty's turn to bring his master and Lord life everlasting. They would start more modestly, just by retrieving Voldemort's mortal form. His Lord however had commanded it be done a certain way. There was a ritual that would return him, and while it could easily be completed it would not be ready until at least spring of next year. Since they had been forced to wait at least that long the Dark Lord had decided to kill two birds with one stone. The Blood of an Enemy forcibly taken would come from the boys-who-lived, and after that was done they would be killed to remove the threat they represented. Only there was one problem. Only the location of one of the twin children was known.

Years ago one of the boys, a certain Harry Potter had vanished from his very bed in his own home. Aurors had no answers and apparently neither did Dumbledore or the Potters. Some might have suspected it was a trick to move one of their sons into safe hiding in seclusion but Barty doubted this, the grief they openly had worn on their faces for months had been too obvious and even after a huge manhunt throughout England and beyond had been organized there had been no sign of the missing boy. True Dumbledore or another of the Light Sided fools could have hidden him but Barty put low odds on that chance. No someone, or something else had taken him. But that was not something the Dark Lord was willing to accept. The boy was still alive. That much was known. Like all old wizarding families, in Potter Manor there was supposedly a tapestry with the family tree of the lineage of the house on it. On it were of course James Potter and his mudblood wife. And also on the tapestry were their two sons. Only where Harry Potter was supposed to be there was no name or picture. Supposedly, for Barty had never seen it himself, the tapestry had ways of differentiating if those shown on it were living or dead and the branches holding the name and images of the people it showed were representative of that, flowers and leaves for the living, barren branches for the dead. The branch that had belonged to Harry Potter was still alive with leaves but there was no image and the name scroll was blank. Additionally it showed his date of birth and no death date. Clearly the Potter child was alive but something powerful hid him from detection of all kinds.

And so together the Dark Lord and Barty had hatched a potentially risky plan to bring both of the Potter boys to them. Barty's father along with others in the British Ministry of Magic had decided to restart the Tri-Wizard Tournament that had once been held between the three most prestigious schools in Europe. Dumstrang, Beauxbaton, and of course Hogwarts. The Tournament was scored by humans, but it was judged by an ancient artifact created by the Goblins of Gringots. The Goblet of Fire. It was capable of binding participants to a contest and ensuring they participated or face a grave price. At some point in the past the Dark Lord had read somewhere that the Goblet was even capable of summoning participants to it once convened if they were not already in its presence. And that was the key to drawing the missing Harry Potter out of hiding and/or captivity.

But getting to the goblet was going to prove difficult as was ensuring that it would draw both Harry and Charles's names as the Dark Lord wanted both entered in the tournament. The only way to ensure that they would both be drawn was to enter each of them seperately and not from Hogwarts. The Dark Lord's research indicated that in its earliest days of recorded use the Goblet hadn't required someone be a part of a school so long as they were a part of a recognized group. To enter someone in the goblet it only required on a piece of paper their name, their magical signature, and whatever group they were part of. In the case of multiple entries in the same group the Goblet would select the best candidate. Which meant that neither of the boys could be entered under Hogwarts or any other of the schools. But he couldn't just make up a random school or name. The goblet had ways of checking and required that the organization or group must be legitimate.

This had been the hardest part, even after getting the magical signatures of both from the Ministry Archives where they were stored for use in underage magic detection. Charles Potter had been easy enough of course. A name, his signature, provided in blood form imbued into the paper in place of actual magical intent to compete, and the name of his organization, the House of Potter. For Harry Potter things had been far more complicated. The Dark Lord and Barty had both been stumped on how to ensure that Harry Potter was selected. After so many years apart, and the fact that Charles Potter had already been entered under the name of his family's house, Harry Potter had proven far more difficult. Neither were sure if House Potter would even work. So Barty had infiltrated the ministry again. Luckily he had his father captive and was able to polyjuice himself to look like his sire for ease of movement. Barty Crouch Sr. was a generally unliked man and had few friends at all. Between Barty's knowledge of his father's nature and behaviors it was an easy enough impersonation and as his son it only took a few obscure spells to twist his own magical signature to match his father's.

It had taken almost two weeks of scouring the records before they had found it. A copy of Harry Potter's Hogwarts Admission letter, complete with envelope that had a very illuminating address that had read.

 _Mr. Harry Potter_  
 _The East Bedroom  
The Great Tree_  
 _The Sixth Floor  
The Great Tomb of Nazarick  
Helheim  
Yggdrassil  
_

The letter itself was nonsense of course. The only reason Barty had given it any credibility at all was because it had been misfiled in an undelivered mail section of the Ministry records. Checking Harry Potter's records had no record of a Hogwarts Acceptance letter ever even being sent out. Clearly this had slipped through the cracks somehow and been forgotten. But when he'd taken the letter and its envelope back to his master to his surprise his master after performing numerous tests had confirmed that it was a genuine Hogwarts letter and not a fraud or a trick. Both had considered attempting to skip using the tournament and just finding the boy using this, but they had no idea where to begin. Both were highly educated wizards, even if the Dark Lord's knowledge surpassed Barty's own. They both knew of the names Helheim and Ygddrassil. The problem was that such names were mythology to muggles, and while the wizarding world might have more truth to their own tales of such places, neither had any idea where to even begin and privately they had admitted after a month of lore searching, that they could search for a century and likely never find wherever the Mr. Potter was living. And so they were back to using the Tournament to bring the errant Harry Potter to them or at least to a place they could reach him from.

It was not a perfect plan, if it did work security around him would no doubt be heavy and they would have to sneak him out from under the nose of not just Dumbledore but likely any aurors present as well and no doubt both of the Potter parents. James was a fearsome duelist and though Lily Potter was a mudblood neither Barty or the Dark Lord had any illusions that she had fully earned the informal title of 'the brightest witch of her age'. But the Dark Lord was insistent that so long as even one of the Potter boys was unaccounted for, there was a threat that could not be allowed to exist. And so Barty had begun preparing for how he would sneak the names of Harry and Charles both into the Goblet right under the nose of Albus Dumbledore himself.

 **The Wizarding World - England - Hogwarts** _  
October 31st, 1994 - Halloween_

The Great Hall of Hogwarts was alive with a near hum of nervous energy as the Halloween feast was drawing to a close. Students at each of the four house tables regardless of if they wore the black robes of Hogwarts, the blue robes of Beauxbatons, or the red robes of Dumstrang, all kept glancing towards the ancient but impressive looking bejeweled form of the Goblet of Fire. No one had entered their names since the start of the feast when the goblet had been moved from its place in the entry hall to the Great Hall where after the feast it would choose the three champions to compete in the tournament. Off to the side Alastor Moody who had been brought in by Dumbledore specifically for the tournament to provide extra security watched from his spot where he was along the wall, his magical eye constantly whirling about in every direction without any discernible pattern to its movements, as he watched everyone and everything in never ending suspicion. Up at the Hogwarts table the staff was joined not just by the two headmasters, or headmistress in the case of the half-giant Madame Maxime that presided over the school, but also by two members of the British Ministry of Magic. Barty Crouch, the Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports. The second member appeared to be Barty Crouch Sr to the eyes of all, even Alastor Moody's magical eye. None knew that it was actually the man's son who was presumed dead. Barty was practically sweating at being under the eyes of the most infamous dark wizard hunter in England but he had to be here for his Lord's mission.

Raising his goblet of pumpkin juice he glanced down the table, Barty eyed the other end of the table where sitting next to each other were James and Lily Potter. James was here as this years sacrifice to the Dark Lord's curse on the Defense Against the Dark Arts position while his mudblood wife had replaced Aurora Sinistra just the year previously in teaching Arithmancy. Both were extremely qualified for their positions, and already the students were thriving under their teachings. However just because the student body as a whole was receptive to the two newest teachers did not mean that everyone else had received them quite so well. Under different circumstances Barty might have enjoyed the storm of emotions on the face of one Severus Snape that had been present for every meal he had attended that the married couple had also attended.

Barty's eyes slid away, not suspiciously, but simply moving on, as if he was simply moving his gaze over the entire staff. Mad Eye was paranoid to the extreme and no doubt after all this was done Dumbledore would review both his own and Mad Eye's as well as the memories of several others regarding all the events of the last twenty-four if not forty-eight hours or more just to be safe. Barty could give nothing away, his acting had to be nothing less than perfect or he would be discovered immediately. Mercifully the feast came to an end and Barty adopted that subtle facial change he knew his father would wear when he was eagerly anticipating something. It would be barely noticeable to anyone and most would miss it entirely, but as he had repeated to himself mentally before, he could allow no mistakes, his act must be perfect. His eyes slid to Dumbledore rising to his feet as the golden plates of Hogwarts that were loaded down with food vanished, though conveniently the goblets of pumpkin juice and water remained. Idly Barty reached for one and mentally resisted the urge to succumb to the flick of a tongue to the side of his mouth that he knew would be a tell that his identity was not his own, instead taking a drink to hide and suppress the nervous tic.

Barty idly listened to Dumbledore's speech, he already knew what it had said as Dumbledore had actually given him a copy for review the day before to make sure that the old man hadn't made any errors. It was a little out of the ordinary but Dumbledore was far too much a politician not to check his own work when in front of his international peers that were themselves representatives of foreign magical powers. Keeping the appearance of one who was listening he glanced for a moment around the room before letting his eyes eventually linger for the briefest of moments on the Grffindor table where Charles Potter was sitting. His gaze didn't linger instead continuing to move on and scanning more students so that any who spotted him looking around in a memory while Dumbledore was talking wouldn't be able to connect the action to anything of importance.

The Death Eater who secretly masqueraded as his rabidly law abiding father like everyone else in the massive hall leaned forward slightly as the selection began and the blue flames of the goblet erupted upwards some three feet for a few seconds before the first singed paper was sent fluttering. It looked like Dumbledore just caught it out of mid-air as it fluttered towards him, but Barty knew too well that everyone had whether they just realized it or not just seen an example of Dumbledore's wandless magical abilities. Politely but with rigid face he clapped as Victor Krum was selected as the champion of Dumstrang. He clapped again just the same when Fleur Delacour was chosen for the French school. He clapped slightly more vigorously in the appropriate level of nationalist English Pride when Cedric Diggory was selected for Hogwarts. And then with the three primary candidates chosen he turned his head to the side to speak with Ludo. He did not want to be looking like he had been expecting it when, yes, there it was. His head, just a fraction of a second behind Ludo's snapped towards Dumbledore when the headmaster in shock, and was that anger? Called out the first of the two names Barty had snuck into the Goblet.

"Charles Potter."

The confusion was loud and Barty played his part to a tee. Conusion marred with outrage that the rules had been broken and the project he had championed as a way to regain some of the reputation that had been destroyed in the aftermath of the last Wizarding War in England, was besmirched by the entrance of a fourth champion. Using Occulamency Barty didn't even let himself feel joy or satisfaction, lest any sign of it tip his hand or reveal him to be anyone other than his father. He played his part to perfection once more watching angrily as Charles Potter moved to join the other champions. And only then did he allow himself to finally notice the Goblet. His surprise though was not a fake because this at least he had not expected. The Goblet did not have the three feet high flames of before but instead a towering inferno that had many eyes widened in fear, even as students and teachers alike backed away from the roaring goblet. And roaring indeed it was as the blue flame raged like an inferno, no like Fiendfyre as if it was itself alive. The flames growing outward and rising higher and higher licking at the beams of the ceiling shattering the illusion of the night sky that normally hid the ceiling of the hall.

And then it stopped. And all the hall stared as a fifth piece of singed paper emerged and one final time Dumbledore caught it with wandless magic and summoned it to him although Barty couldn't help but notice that the paper got far lower, almost to the ground before it was magically summoned to his hand unlike before where he had caught it early so that it seemed as if the paper had naturally gone to him. Dumbledore's eyes visibly narrowed, confusion now the strongest emotion visible on his face as he read the piece of paper silently before after the longest time of silence he read the name aloud.

"Mare Bello Fiore."

What? Barty's brain completely halted as his entire mental thought collided in a monster of a train wreck that left him completely unprepared to react as the space in front of the Goblet erupted in an explosion of blue flame exactly like that which burned in the goblet. Students threw themselves back even as the fierceness of the flame blinded all for a few brief seconds. Students and staff were jumbled as they pulled themselves upwards to their feet looking in fear, confusion and awe at where the explosion had occurred and now the strangest sight yet now stood.

For there in the space where the explosion had been standing on black marked stone from the fire was a blond haired girl. She was dressed in an unseemingly short skirt that barely came down to her mid thigh while white stockings came up almost all the way to meet it leaving a brief gap of tanned skin. Her arms at least were covered in what looked to be dragon scales or hide of some kind though Barty had never seen any quite so blue as that before. Over the shirt she wore a white tunic over her shirt. that had black accents to it. Her shoulders were partially covered by was a needlessly short half cape of some kind that was green and made from a material Barty didn't recognize at all. Her hands were quite strangely covered a pair of mismatched gauntlets. One gauntlet looked like it belonged to an angel, pure white and with a heavenly quality to it that stood as direct contrast to the other gauntlet that was a dark and angry red and black combination and looked like it had been made for the devil himself.

Barty's mind was still refusing to actually do anything productive so all he could manage was simply to study the figure, his eyes shifting from the gauntlets to the wooden staff in the girl's grip. His eyes slid downward following the staff to the floor and then sliding back up, tracing over those brown leather boots all the way back up to the girl's head. The skin of her face matched her thighs in the same tanned color. Idly Barty noted almost as an afterthought that the girl's entire posture seemed quite scared and defensive. He would have dismissed it except for the fact that after being exposed to his Lord's magical aura after a long period of time he ha started to become sensitive to powerful auras such as Dumbledore's, and in particular the seemingly harmless girl. Trying to get any more information that he could he noticed the ears sticking out to the side that seemed quite out of place on a human, it was almost as if she was a house elf with ears like that. He wished the girl was facing him but he couldn't see her face just yet as she was faced away from the goblet and the head table instead facing the four House tables. He watched the head lift slightly and heard for the first time the feminine voice of the girl.

"Umm can someone please tell me where I am?"


	3. The Goblet of Fire Incident

AN: So I ended up adding more background and history in this chapter than I intended. I realized after writing chapter 2 that I still had left a lot of question marks about what happened at Hogwarts, particularly in the first three years. So I spent the middle portion of this chapter covering all those events so that there will be minimal questions as to what is going on. And for the record, as I've been getting comments to this still. Yes Mare is a BOY, but he looks like a GIRL. And unless Moody uses his eye, which he won't because the man is paranoid, not a pervert, no one is going to find out for a little bit since Mare isn't sleeping in any of the Hogwarts House Dormitories. Anyways keep the love and the reviews coming. I'm so excited that I've got over a hundred followers in just one week of this being published. Please keep your thoughts and comments coming!

* * *

 **The New World - The Forest of Tob** _  
Two years after Nazarick arrives in the New World_

A giggle of delight followed by a fairly loud roar that sounded strangely like the bellowing laughter of a dragon that was quite out of place came from deep in the heart of the Forest of Tob. Above the sun was shinning and the sky was cloudless. The air was warm with only the slightest of breezes. Sitting in a large clearing was a most curious sight. Near the center of the clearing sitting on a wooden stump that was shaped most curiously like a chair, idly swinging his legs, was Mare who was oblivious to all the rest of the world as he seemed quite consumed and occupied by the heavy and thick book resting on his lap.

It was the rest of the occupants however that truly added the strangeness of the situation. Arrayed around the clearing were two massive platinum dragons. These massive beasts were both laying comfortably on the ground with room to spare, each of them however were looking over Mare's shoulder one to each side of the elf looking at the book, reading along of all things as if a dragon reading a book with an elf was a normal thing. The rest of the clearing was occupied by a massive ancient oak tree that was moving its limbs occasionally, for it was actually an ent. The remaining occupants were a pair of dryads that were politely covering their mouths in amusement and looking to the ent.

The ent moved slowly as ents sometimes do, and it spoke somewhat slowly as well, but right now it was moving quite quickly by entish standards. "Preposterous. No ent would be so naïve to notice their own forest was being cut down by foul little orcs. This Treebeard sounds like he has had far too many squirrel droppings on him." The ent's voice was deep but carried a cultivated tone to it even with the slow pace of its speech. Sitting on the rock, still kicking his legs slightly Mare smiled in amusement even as he spoke quietly. "Well he was very old Brownbark. Maybe he slept for too long?" The ent rumbled out a low grumble that vibrated the earth and set the pair of dryads to a tittering quiet laughter. "More like the old fool spent too long with his roots in some bad dirt I say."

One of the dryads spoke up in reply rather than Mare who had a thoughtful look on his face at the towering and grumpy ent's words. "You just don't want to admit that our growth-father could be right. You sleep more than any ent on the Sixth Floor and you would have slept right through the staff meeting last week if one of Lady Aura's beasts hadn't watered your roots." At this the other dryad began to titter in quiet laughter while the two dragons rumbled in much louder laughter. In the middle of the clearing Mare just blushed with embarrassment at the memory. It had been very embarrassing for the Ancient Ent and even a little bit for Mare as his creator, or growth-father as many of the plant NPC's he had created and cultivated were wont to call him in conversation. As the NPCs were effectively Mare's children, their successes and their failures in the service of the Supreme Beings reflected directly on Mare.

Behind him on his left the Platinum Dragon that the Supreme Beings had named Alduin before putting him in Mare's service rumbled out a few words. Mare looked back over his shoulder to listen while the other Platinum Dragon named Smaug looked at its kin. "Lord Mare. Please ignore the foolish tree's posturing and continue reading. I am curious to know what will happen to the foolish hobbits. The one that faced the dragon in the lonely mountain sadly escaped and I am hopping that one or both of these will be eaten by a dragon instead."

Mare just nodded while Smaug the platinum dragon looked suitably offended whenever the failure that was the fictional dragon named Smaug was brought up, even going so far as to rumble out a mutter. "I would have eaten the little morsel and then all the dwarves and no human would have ever slain me with an arrow." He said in defense of his pride." Mare as ever, for they had all heard similar comments many times before, simply reached out and patted Smaug's foreleg before turning back and looking back down to his book and prepared to resume reading.

For that was perhaps the strangest part of the whole scene unfolding. The small elf dressed as a girl was sitting in the center and reading. It had become a regular sight as shortly after the Great Tomb of Nazarick's arrival in the New World the Lord and Master of the Tomb Momonga, who had only just previously changed his name to Ainz Ooal Gown so that other members of the guild, such as Mare's own creator the Lady Bukubukuchagama, and any other Supreme Beings that were in the New World would be able to find him and Nazarick more easily. Lord Ainz had commanded that the NPCs of Nazarick were to take breaks. And while every NPC had rightly protested stating quite truthfully that they did not require breaks of any kind and that their service to the supreme beings was its own reward. Their beloved master in his unknowable wisdom had still commanded via regal order, that they were to take breaks. Mare at first had just taken to reading books on the Sixth Floor of Nazarick where he would be able to enjoy the book but also where should any issue arise that might threaten Nazarick, he could deal with it immediately.

This had gone on for a month or two before effected by a concern that had baffled Mare, Lord Ainz had approached Mare and after questioning him how he was spending his order mandated breaks, had then given him another order that he was to spend more time outside so that he would not be too stifled. So Mare had started taking his breaks in the Forest of Tob near the fake Nazarick that had been set up as a trap and a diversion for enemies to attack. Not long after that still unknown enemies had attacked Shalltear and lead to the events that had culminated in the PvP duel between Shalltear and Lord Ainz himself. After that Lord Ainz had decreed that all Floor Guardians when venturing into the world outside of Nazarick were to have possession of not only a World Item to protect them, but also were to be accompanied by no less than five level 90 or above NPC's.

And that was why Mare even now was gently turning the page with **Avarice and Generosity** covering his hands and forearms. The mismatched gauntlets were the mighty World Item granted to Mare for safekeeping and the protection of Mare himself, by the mighty and also incredibly kind and caring, Lord Ainz. It was also why he was surrounded not only by the two dragons given to him by the Supreme Beings but also by three of his own NPC's. Each of the three level 90 plant based NPC's had directly been created by Mare's magic to serve Nazarick. And now they served Nazarick by acting as the shy Floor Guardian's bodyguards. But after a few breaks where Mare had read silently to himself, always sitting on the same stump that he had fashioned with his Druidcraft into a chair, that one of the Dryads had asked what he had been reading.

At the time it had been a book called The Hobbit from the Nazarick library. The librarians had assured him it was fiction but just because it was fiction did not mean it was without value. The Supreme Beings had surely placed it within the library with reason and purpose as they did all things. So starting the book over from the beginning he had read aloud to the group each break. First The Hobbit, and then The Fellowship of the Ring, now he was reading aloud from The Two Towers. All in all it was an enjoyable experience for Mare to have someone to talk to about his beloved books and the company of the others was nice too as they wouldn't just listen but give their own reactions to how they would do differently. Smaug as he had been named the same as a dragon in The Hobbit was particularly active in such discussions and went on at length and repeatedly over all the things he would do differently. And now with the entrance of the Ents in The Two Towers, Brownbark was beginning to be just as vocal about how foolish and addled the ents in the book were behaving when they should have done the logical thing and gone and crushed the weak human wizard at the start before all the trouble could ensue.

Ignoring the chattering of the other Mare looked down and was about to start reading when he noticed, shockingly that blue flame was quickly running own his arm towards the book. He didn't feel any pain but he knew he had high resistances and this could be simply too weak of fire, but just because he was too strong for the fire to hurt did not mean it wouldn't hurt the book in his lap. As quickly as he could he slammed the book shut and quickly but carefully set it on the ground away from him before standing and stepping into the center of the clearing away from all the NPC's, and of course the precious book. The plant based NPC's both ent and dryad alike all wisely backed away as fire was quite deadly to them as it was to all plants. The dragons had resistances given their high level stats, but even they kept their distance though they did not back away like the others had. In the center Mare stood almost completely consumed in the blue lames, in fact the only places on his body not covered was where the gauntlets of the World Item covered his hands. It was almost as if it could not consume the world item gauntlets, for a time.

After pausing in shock one of the two dryads spoke the words to a magic spell that would stop all outside magical enchantments in an area. The spell cast and yet it did nothing to the fires consuming the Floor Guardian. Given that the dryad was a powerful magical caster the fact that it had resisted so effectively, the nullifying spell, was somewhat shocking. Even the spells Mare cast as a full level 100 would have ended unless they had been the absolute strongest the elf druid could cast. That the magical flame was still consuming the young dark elf was a blatant show of the fire's strength. Smaug having seen the magic failed lumbered a little closer and with a mighty wing extended, flapped his wing at Mare checking to see if the flames could simply be blown out. But the fires did not even react to the powerful movement of a dragon's wing where any normal fire would have almost been blown out against the momentary gale force wind

In the end it took almost a minute before the gauntlets resistance to the magical blue flames would cover the gauntlets at long last. Through it all Mare stood curiously in the center of the clearing being watched by the others. The fire was strange, it felt powerful, yet it did not burn at all. When his full body was finally consumed by the strange magical blue fire he looked around at the others who were staring at him. None had said anything through the whole process so Mare spoke up. "It doesn't hurt at all. Please go get..." However he never got to finish his words as suddenly, flame and Floor Guardian alike simply vanished leaving behind ent, dryads, and dragons alone. Each began to shiver and shake, both from anger coursing through their bodies, but also fear. They had just stood by and watched whatever the fire was, take Mare. Without needing to speak to one another they needed to return to Nazarick. IMMEDIATELY. Mare's disappearance needed to be reported and then each of the NPC's would take the punishment they were due in failing their duties as Mare's bodyguards. The only hesitation came from one of the dryads who stopped long enough only to pick up the book that Mare had put on the ground for safe keeping. When Mare was found he would be quite upset if they had not cared for the book.

* * *

 **The Magical World - Hogwarts Castle - Headmaster's Office** _  
November 1st, 1995, 2am_

Albus Dumbledore sat in a muggle made office chair behind his desk. He truly did love Muggle inventions as they showed a knack for adaptation and creation that the educator often felt Wizards lacked. But tonight his mind did not dwell on Muggles nor did his gaze. His gaze was presently on Alastor Moody who was currently on his fourth trip through Albus's memories of the events of the night some eight hours earlier that had been the source of all the chaos. Well that wasn't really true Albus admitted. The chaos had started years before and had just been rolling over every year, ever since. His gaze shifted to the side back to his desk where a glass of firewhisky rested, a single lemon drop floating in the liquid. With a sigh he took the glass in hand and tilted it back to drink some of the potent, burning, wizarding alcohol before setting the glass back on his desk and he leaned back in his wondrous Muggle made chair.

Albus could accurately point the chaos's start back to the disappearance of Harry Potter some seven years before almost to the hour and minute. Before Harry's disappearance since neither of the Potter twins had shown any sign over the other that they had been 'marked' as the prophecy was made to say, then Albus had been forced to operate in the blind. True each had received a wound from the attempt on their lives but Albus had no idea how they had survived it and the injuries they had receive had not been at Voldemort's will but rather just collateral damage from the explosion that had destroyed their nursery when Tom's body had been destroyed.

Lacking any indication from the prophecy as to who might be the correct subject he had encouraged the boys' parents to start their educations as early as possible, through James, Lily, and Sirius he had exposed both boys to as many different magical subjects and disciplines as possible to see if either had a proficiency for anything that might qualify as 'the power that he knows not'. And while both boys had both proven talented and capable in their own ways, before Harry's still unexplained disappearance, he had no idea what that might qualify as. After the disappearance he had spent as much of his precious time as possible looking or Harry as there was a fifty-fifty chance that the missing boy would be the one to save them all. Parents and Godparents alike had continued to educate and cultivate young Charles, nudged towards a new discipline every now and then but so far as Dumbledore observed the progress they had, had no luck in any breakthroughs that might be the key or answer to the problem.

Ever since young Charles had started at Hogwarts though, Albus's time had become stretched even more thin. He'd heard rumors from Mundungous Fletcher that someone had been buying up Unicorn Blood and it wasn't a known potioneer. Lacking the usual sources Dumbledore had come to the, correct, conclusion that Tom might have possessed someone and was using the unicorn blood to keep his possession from burning out his host's body and life. He had been right in the end but at the beginning it had been only an educated guess and he had no way of knowing just who it might be that was possessed. So rather than let Tom wander free around the world he needed him where Dumbledore could contain him, maybe even capture him. And so with Nicholas Flamel's permission. Albus had created his trap.

Of course hadn't used the real Sorcerer's Stone. Dumbledore after preparing his trap had been quite confident in his ability to contain Tom but even then wasn't willing to risk Tom gaining immortality should he prove wrong. So Nicholas had created a fake, so convincing even to a seasoned and veteran alchemist like Albus himself it had appeared genuine. And with bait in hand he had set the trap. Because a trap was best when it was watched it had required Albus place it close to home. Of course Hogwarts was filled with school children that should never be allowed near any of the elements of Albus's trap. A ward had solved that problem, or at least it had mostly solved it, in the case of young Charles and his friends. Even now Albus had to assume that Tom had altered his ward to lure Charles to Albus's trap using it against his enemy. But Albus had been serious in his attempt even as he had been careful. His staff had devised a series of rooms that would each prove a potent way in killing Tom or at least hopefully containing him. But with the school children present Albus was not willing to risk a death, so he had asked his staff to key in safety measures to an age based ward that would deactivate and disarm the most dangerous portions of each room.

The room had started simply, but effectively, with a Cerberus provided by Hagrid. Cerberus due to their ties to the underworld were immune to the Killing Curse and had high enough magical resistance to withstand anything else Tom might cast at it, long enough to kill him. Of course Hagrid had let slip to any children that asked, that the beast would be soothed to sleep by any music, which was quite true. Hagrid may not be able to keep a secret, but people did not give him enough credit in considering that sometimes the secrets he let slip were once that were very much intend to be known. Fluffy had been trained not to kill children, only to scare them off by Hagrid presenting a simple yet effective first room.

The second room provided by Pomona had been far more along the lines of most of the other teachers with multiple layers of traps at work. The obvious of course was the Devil's Snare. But it was not an ordinary Devil's Snare. Pomona had specifically grown an cultivated it to be immune to damage, only its natural resistance to light and fire had been permitted to remain an she had altered her lessons for the year so that the normally NEWT level topic was taught to all children, just in case. Add to that a ward that only disarmed for under aged occupants that prevented fire and light magic from being cast and any adult that tried to get through would have inevitably died. And like almost all known plants, the Killing curse was useless against Devil's Snare.

After that had come Filius's room and here the quarter-goblin Charms Master had shown his heritage in full force by preparing a trap any goblin would have approved of. It appeared simple, simply a key that needed to be captured to open a door. Of course the walls had been charmed unbreakable and un-transfigurable as had the door. The key had been similarly charmed as well as un-summonable. The only way to get it would have been to mount one of the provided brooms and retrieve the key. For children at this point the false keys would swarm while the true key would flee and only the most skilled of flyers would have been able to proceed. For adults however the trap was only part done. For any above age occupants the air would become an oderless and tasteless, as well as of course, invisible poison that would slowly kill them, all the while that the swarming keys would take on a lethal nature as they would be charmed with never dulling edges that would literally cut a person to ribbons long before the poison would be able to take effect.

After that had come Minerva's chamber. Of course she had taken to a chess theme but like the others it had multiple levels depending on if the occupant was of age or underage. For an underage occupant the chess pieces, while of course unbreakable, uncharmable, and untransfigurable, were just ordinary wizard's chess pieces. For an adult however the pieces were made to cheat, and they would also strike to kill if a person attempted to cross without playing, or if a piece attacked the player on the board.

Quirrel had of course supplied a pair of mountain trolls and a poison gas that would be disguised as the troll's natural scents, and Severus had created his logic trap. Finally there had been the mirror. It was all intended to kill, or at least trap Tom, and yet somehow Tom had been able to not only infiltrate every single chamber, he had gotten young Charles to do so as well with his friends, all while luring the trap master away from the castle with a fake Ministry Summons that had a powerful compulsion spell on it. Luckily the spell work while powerful, had also been rushed and thus, obvious and Albus had been able to throw it off in time to return to duel Tom in the final chamber and save Charles and his friends from death at the hands of Lord Voldemort. Even now Albus still wasn't sure how Tom had been able to hide the magical signature of his possession of Quirrel.

Albus could not help but wonder. He had prepared the trap with near perfection, and yet Tom had seemingly waltzed through every room just as Charles Potter had done, and while Dumbledore's own actions had enabled the young man to do so and survive for no matter how talented it would have been impossible to survive the rooms otherwise. A new thought that left Dumbledore cold occurred to him. Was the prophecy affecting not only Tom and Charles but also him? Had it affected his mind to reduced the danger to a child such as Charles specifically so that confrontation and meeting would occur? Had magic ensured specifically for the prophecy that Charles would be surrounded with those who would have the knowledge and ability to see him through the rooms when his own knowledge failed? Prophecies were powerful, if mysterious thing, and the ability of fate, and magic to execute a prophecy was unknown even to scholars and learned men and women of lore. But had magic altered his perception to ensure that Tom and Charles would both be in that room? It was foolish on the surface given that they had been in other rooms together but still he could not shake the feeling for a few moments at first.

Sadly in what seemed to be the story of Albus's life lately, there just was not enough time to investigate. He had spent the summer attempting to do so, but in doing so had missed the blatantly obvious fist fight in Diagon Alley between Arthur Weasley and Lucius Malfoy. If he had known of it he would have seen the deception for what it was and would have closely examined the situation and would have almost certainly found the diary. Instead between his investigation, and of course finding another DADA teacher, he had missed it. His choice that year had quite possibly been his worst ever. He had known Lockhart was not the man he had made himself out to appear. But he had, incorrectly assumed that each of Gilderoy's adventures had been edited to remove the experts that Lockhart would bring along to deal with the beasts. In a way Albus had been right but his mistake had been assuming that Gilderoy had ever been present at all. So he'd hire the fop, after locking him into a contract and hitting him with a powerful compulsion to want to share all his abilities with children, Albus had assumed that it would be sufficient, even if sadly, it wasn't.

Lucius, since it was his plan all along had stretched the headmaster's time thin by keeping the Wizengamot and much of the Ministry in chaos through the school year, all in what was no doubt a plan to keep Albus away from the school and solving the problems as much as possible. Combine that with Albus's initial mistake of thinking perhaps Charles had bee made into an accidental Horcrux, but exposure to a snake during the dueling club that year had provoked no sign of Parseltounge ability, and Albus had checked his alibis. There was no way Albus could conceive that Charles would be part of the events surrounding the Chamber of Secrets. Luck though and Albus was sure, the prophecy as well. Charles had somehow started to suspect Ginny Weasley and had followed her down to the Chamber of Secrets roughly half way through the year after Mr. Finch-Fetchly, and the Gryiffindor House Ghost, Nick, were petrified. Albus had seen the aftermath where the Basilisk lay dead, if Fawkes hadn't taken the initiative to bring the Sorting Hat to Charles, Albus was quite certain the boy would die. As it was it just looked like another sign that the prophecy desired Charles to fight Tom given it had forced him to face off against one of the presumably several pieces of soul, again.

It had been with delight that he'd been able to fire Gilderoy at the end of the year as Remus Lupin had agreed to serve as DADA Professor the next year for the school. Of course over the summer disaster would strike again when Peter Pettigrew somehow escaped Azkaban. What followed was quite possibly the most stupid and idiotic thing that Cornelius Fudge had ever done. Desperate to be seen as doing something he had somehow, with no evidence to support this no less, come upon the idea that Pettigrew would seek out the children who had destroyed his master and kill them. With young Harry still missing that left only young Charles. However rather than do the more logical thing of just assigning him a bodyguard. Young Nymphadora Tonks for example due to her training and her metamorph ability would have made a perfect bodyguard given she could have assumed the same age as the young man and masqueraded as a transfer student for a year and gone to all the same classes as Charles. But rather that frankly logical idea, the Minister had descended into madness when he had ordered the Dementors of Azkaban to surround and guard Hogwarts.

The fact that Hogwarts's defenses were considerable was not listened to. When Albus argued that there was no sign Pettigrew was even coming to Hogwarts he was dismissed. The only thing he could shake out of the Minister was that the Dementors would be removed immediately if Pettigrew was caught of course. Or if Pettigrew was sighted abroad or far from Hogwarts, or if a year passed and there was no sign of the traitor at all. Sadly Pettigrew was at least a competent traitor as he was never spotted once. Albus suspected this was due to his animagus form and that Pettigrew was spending all his time as a rat. But that still left him with a year of Dementors and several incidents, chief among them when the starving foul things descended on the first Quiditch match of the year.

Albus managed to intimidate the Dementors successfully into not entering the boundaries of Hogwarts again for the remainder of the year after that, but the damage had been done already to the thirty some students that spent anywhere from hours to a full week in the hospital wing from prolonged Dementor exposure. And then there had been the incident at the end of the year where Severus had let slip that Lupin was a werewolf. Forced to let his best DADA professor in years Albus was left to wonder if it was the result of the curse or simply Severus's childhood hatreds that had only festered. If the man wasn't such a skilled potioneer Albus might have fired him regardless of his use as a spy. But, though the rate of students entering a Mastery in Potions had gone down, the skill of those emerging from it had never been higher in Hogwarts's history.

Luckily this year at least James Potter was free to take up the mantle of DADA professor and Sirius had agreed to do the same the following year, hopefully ensuring that neither man would suffer death at the hands of the position's curse. Given that Lily had started as the Arithmancy professor the year before, the man was only happy to be nearer to his wife and son, and he was an excellent teacher given his experiences as both a duelist and his fights against the Death Eaters.

It was right as Dumbledore was mulling over how he would handle the teaching position arrangement when Sirius's year was up that Alastor Moody at last emerged from the pensieve. Dumbledore obligingly offered the bottle of firewhiskey but as ever Alastor refused. Even from a friend he would not take an offered drink. The scarred former Auror settled into the chair on the other side of Albus's death roughly before speaking. "I keep looking over that memory and yet I still haven't pinned down who present was responsible for what happened. If it was just Potter's kid I'd say the evidence could be easier to figure out but with the elf's presence as well I'm not sure what to say." Moody's eye took that moment to swivel towards the tower wall and look through the stones to where on the grounds just hours before had sprouted an enormous tree that Moody's eye could not pierce. Rather than hearing a reply from Albus however he got a rude sounding "Harumph" from the Sorting Hat of all things.

"Your eye, boy, won't do you any good in figuring out that elf's secrets. Those greater and more powerful than you have tried and failed." Albus looked at the hat. "That's the second time tonight you have spoken as if you know the elf. How? You've never left the castle." Dumbledore asked trying to solve the mystery. The Hat just mockingly spoke in reply. "If you recall your history lessons you might remember I spent a fair amount of time on Godric's head." Albus just blinked his widening eyes at that even as Moody's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You mean to tell me that the Founders? Or at least one of them, met that elf?"

The Hat just laughed. "Well it wasn't much of a meeting given that both of those elves were doing their level best to kill them but yes, as you youngsters might say. We've met." At this Alastor and Albus shared a look and looked back at the Hat sitting on the shelf along the wall. "Oh don't bother. All you two need to know is that Hogwarts has been invaded and until the foolishness is done we will stay invaded. You had best just hope that, that elf is all that is left or we will face a true threat beyond any of your puny Dark Lords." The hat turned and looked to where the whole time Fawkes had been sitting on its golden perch. "Hey, featherbrain. Give me a lift. We need to prepare." Both wizards could have sworn that the phoenix was glaring at the hat for a moment before the fire bird nodded and taking wing, grabbed the hat in its talons and disappeared into a burst of flame.

Lacking any words Albus just rose up from his seat, his hands firmly gripping and pushing down on the arms of his muggle office chair. A wave of his hand transfigured it back into its normal appearance as he walked towards the waiting pensieve. Looking down at the swirling memories Albus lowered his head into the memories and was sucked in while a thirsty Alastor Moody pulled his flask from his pocket to take a drink.

 **Albus Dumbledore's Memories - The Magical World - Hogwarts - Great Hall** _  
October 31st, 1995, The Goblet of Fire Incident_

Albus appeared in his memories at the beginning of dinner. The memories were somewhat washed out as they always were but were perfectly intact otherwise. Glancing towards his memory self was sitting at the Head Table, Albus instead moved through the students, studying the faces of each and everyone from all schools to see if any betrayed any sign that they knew what was coming. There was plenty of anticipation, worry, anxiety, nervousness, to be found on the faces of many but no sign that he might interpret indicated they knew what was coming. Focused as he was on the faces of the students the time passed quickly and before he knew it, the moment came.

The goblet produced each name, when it came for the fifth name Albus carefully studied the Goblet. Magical impressions were muted in memories but for someone as sensitive as Albus to magic and its auras, it was still there, where before each time the Goblet had easily produced the name, there was with the fifth name, a tension, as if somehow its process was being resisted. Eventually of course it produced its fifth candidate, the young elf girl who had sent such chaos through everything, overshadowing even Charles's entry into the contest. He watched her stand there so timidly, clutching her staff with those strange mismatched gauntlets of hers. But he did not dismiss her as a non-threat. As soon as she had arrived Albus had felt a power that eclipsed even his own by some degree, fill the chamber. Though the child appeared to be a near non-threat her magical power spoke a different story, and even in the memory he could feel it although now at least it felt weaker than his own. Albus could only hope that it meant that the elf was only a bit stronger than him in magical power rather being so far beyond his ability to deal with that she could simply sweep him aside. He had a duty to Hogwarts and its students after all if this elf proved to be a threat to the school.

He heard her first timidly spoken words asking where she was and watched as he himself in the memory moved forward a little to get a better look, that singed slip of paper still in his hand that had given him her name. "Miss Fiore. If you would please follow me and I will attempt to answer every question I can." He had spoken to the elf. The girl had taken a look around uncertainly before giving a hesitant nod and following him out of the Great Hall that behind them had erupted into shouting and chaos that the teachers worked to settle.

Inside the chamber for the champions to gather were already Miss Delacour as well as Misters Diggory, and Krum. As well as of course Charles Potter standing awkwardly off to the side. Each looked to him as he entered and there was already confusion on their faces that only grew when they saw the young elf following Albus. It was the young mister Diggory that spoke first. "Um, Professor Dumbledore, who's that?" The seventh year hufflepuff asked while attempting to, politely, point at the elf who seemed intimidated from being the center of attention. However before Albus could explain the door behind him opened and in walked a ridiculously cheerful Ludo Bagman, followed by a much more dour Barty Crouch, as well as the two other school heads following up. Far too cheerful with the situation Bagman seemed to be vibrating with excitement as if the whole thing were a game and not something that had somehow, somewhere, gone horribly wrong. "Extraordinary. I don't know how it happened but it seems that somehow we have five participants four the Tournament."

At this the foreign students and professors alike erupted, Krum was at least semi-reasonable given he kept his mouth shut and just watched Charles and Mare both with a glare, but the french candidate that if Dumbledore didn't miss his guess, had a touch of Veela ancestry was openly insulting. "What is this nonsense? Non, the tournament is just supposed to be or three candidates, three schools. I will not compete with children." All the while Madame Maxime was glaring at Dumbledore. "I do not know where the child came from but I do not remember anything in the rules saying that Hogwarts was supposed to receive a second champion." She was about to speak up when Barty Crouch came to the rescue. "Hogwarts didn't receive two champions. Mr. Potter could not have been entered for Hogwarts, he must have been entered in the name of another school." Trust Crouch to have studied up on the goblet's rules and restrictions, that at least was a bastion of normality amidst all of the chaos. The generally unpleasant man turned his head to glare at Mare. "It is likely the Mr. Potter was entered under another school or something similar. I however am far more suspicious of our fifth Champion. You, girl, what is your name?" He was openly looking at Mare and at that point because of the sheer chaos of everything, no one else, not even Dumbledore corrected him as answers at this point were far more important.

The young girl standing there in her mix of muggle and wizard fashion, for that was very clearly a dragon scale shirt even if everything else looked considerably muggle in style, just stammered and wilted under the attention. "My, my name is Mare Bello Fiore." At this Kakaroff just snorted in disbelief. "This? We are supposed to accept this little girl is a Champion? It is bad enough that Hogwarts will have two champions regardless of what the rules say, but now you add this farce to it. I have had enough, I am removing my champion and my school from this competition." The sound of Moody's voice from the door came at that point, no one had noticed his entrance, well perhaps, if Albus didn't know better looking at the memory of the elf girl, he would swear the elf had glanced that way a few moments before as if she had noticed Moody's secret entrance, but the noise of Moody's voice clearly made her cringe so maybe that was just Alastor's imagination. "You can't. Your champion's stuck through to the end. Damn convenient really. Anyone that wanted to put an enemy in harm's way would find the goblet a perfect tool for that I think. Potter's got plenty of enemies after all." The suspicious old Auror said even as his gaze was fixed on Kakaroff who took a step back before settling his composure. "Nothing any of us here can now do. Five champions is five champions. Personally I think you lot would be more fixed on figure out where our mysterious fifth candidate is from so we can let whoever is missing her know where she is."

At this Albus nodded and looked down at the girl with his best grandfatherly gaze and twinkle of the eye. "Miss Fiore, can you tell us where you're from?" Helpfully the girl nodded timidly. "I'm from the Great Tomb of Nazarick." That just caused a silence as none of those present had ever heard of such a place. Smiling trying to reassure the girl Dumbledore questioned her further. "And what country is the Great Tomb of Nazarick in?" This at least caused her to perk up slightly with what Albus had to assume was pride. "Oh it's located in the Sorcerous Kingdom." The Sorcerous Kingdom? Albus was a member of the ICW, one of its chief members and yet he had never heard of such place. True wizards had their own names for the places they lived, yet that name was completely unknown to him in location, or even in rumor or legend. Where there were hidden communities of Wizards scattered throughout the world and yet Albus had no clue where that might be. Determined to try again he tried a different tactic. "And who is the leader of the Sorcerous Kingdom?"

This had the elf practically glowing with pride. "Oh that's Sorcerer King Ainz Ooal Gown." Albus had been trying to wrack his brains for any mention of the name of such an individual when off to the side there had been a flutter of wings, Albus wasn't even sure when Fawkes had appeared but there was Fawkes and the Sorting Hat of all things both staring at the elf. The Hat seemed to sound rather horrified as it questioned the girl. "The ruler of your nation is Ainz Ooal Gown?" At this the elf child nodded happily and cheefully and for the first time Albus could ever remember Fawkes looked... almost nervous? Frightened? It was impossible to say even for one such as he who knew the phoenix so well. The hat though fixed Albus with a look. "Albus, any who serve Ainz Ooal Gown are not permitted to stay within the castle."

Albus was tempted to speak but the Hat was tied into the defenses of Hogwarts itself, if the hat said so, then he would need to find alternate accommodations. He glanced at the other Headmaster, and Headmistress but instantly wrote both off, best to find something neutral. "Can young Mare at least stay on the grounds if not in the castle?" The Hat grumbled at this before nodding. "Because of that damnable cup is involved, yes." Looking at the young elf who had retreated back into emotional timidness Albus was surprised to see the elf nod. "Lord Ainz-sama gave me permission to stay outside of Nazarick on my own if I was alone. I just need a large open area of grass." Albus blinked but wondered what the elf might have planned. She looked so young but clearly knew what she would do for lodgings."

Glancing to Moody and the others. "This has been enough excitement for one night and I really should attempt to contact this Ainz Ooal Gown regarding young Mare's presence here. Perhaps we can have our meeting in a few days to explain the process for the tournament once I have had a chance to make contact and arrangements for young Miss Fiore here. Alastor can you see young Mister Potter to his parents, I am sure they are worried, and afterwards please take him to the Gryffindor tower so he can get his sleep." Alastor like everyone else was eyeing the young girl suspiciously but nodded as Albus gently laid a hand on Mare' shoulder and guided her out of the room.

By that point, mercifully, the Great Hall was completely empty and Albus was able to guide the young girl out of the castle. As they were leaving he spotted out of the corner of his eye Fawkes and the Hat flying up to the battlements no doubt to watch the stranger in their midst that seemed so unwelcome for reasons that Albus did not yet understand. After walking Mare approximately halfway to the Forbidden Forest, far enough beyond the castle's immediate wards that hopefully the castle's defenses would not be triggered he looked to Mare and gestured with a hand. "You asked for open grass. Will this be sufficient." The young girl looked around for a moment, studying what exactly he wasn't sure before looking up at the old wizard with a nod and a smile that reached those strange mismatched blue and green eyes. "Mhmm." Then stepping forward Mare brandished his staff forward and shouted out. "Greater Forest Growth" Only it wasn't just words as Albus could feel magic pouring through the staff, the sheer amount staggering as from the ground dozens and dozens of trees began to grow from where before there had been only grass. They had years of growth in seconds until they reached their height but over the tops of the outer trees Albus could see a single enormous tree continuing to grow higher and higher until it rivaled the tallest towers of Hogwarts. All the while that intense powerful magic flowed and the staff and child alike glowed with green energy and Albus stood wide eyed and open mouthed at a magic he had never before even imagined let alone scene.

Perhaps two minutes after the young girl stopped she turned and looked at the old wizard beside her and smiled. "Okay. I just have to set my defenders like Lord Ainz-Sama said and then I can go in and go to sleep. Umm you should really not enter, they won't like it if anyone wanders in." And with that the young elf started walking forward into the new grown forest towards the center. Every now and then he would press a gauntlet covered hand to a tree, though not with any specific pattern or even any apparent reason. Just as she was about to disappear from view Albus's brain, desperate for answers of any kind automatically took control of his mouth even as he stood there in shock. "Miss Fiore, I must know, you aren't human are you?" Mare gave a happy shake of the head indicating the negative. "Nope, I'm an elf!" She said and before disappearing gave a wave goodbye and then disappeared within the trees leaving Albus just standing there.

With that the memory ended and Albus emerged from the Pensieve silently. Walking back over to his desk he slumped back into his chair after changing it back into the comfortable Muggle office chair and slumped into it. He reached for his still burning glass of firewhiskey and drained it all, sucking on the lone lemon drop left in his mouth even as with a silent grunt Alastor took the bottle that Albus had offered to him earlier and refilled the headmaster's glass in knowing understanding silence. All the headmaster's brain could focus on was at the very end, right before the memory had ended. He was willing to swear a magical oath that some of the trees had begun to move.


End file.
